Average Electric Bill in Arkansas
Residential · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
That works out to about $1,660 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Arkansas has the 33rd highest average residential bill.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 13.24¢/kWh × 1,045 kWh ≈ $138. A state can land high on either factor — Arkansas pays below the national rate but uses much more power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| Arkansas | $138 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $155 | |
| Texas | $173 | |
| Mississippi | $169 | |
| Tennessee | $162 | |
| Louisiana | $156 | |
| Missouri | $145 | |
| Oklahoma | $141 |
Arkansas is $17 a month below (-11.0%) the U.S. average of $155. Neighboring states share fuel mixes, weather, and often a grid operator, which makes them a closer benchmark than the national average.
Trend since 2008
Each point is a trailing 12-month average, which strips out the summer/winter swing and leaves the underlying trend. Bills start in January 2008 because that is when EIA began reporting customer counts.
Seasonal swing
- Highest month
- $191
- August 2025
- Lowest month
- $101
- November 2025
- Swing
- $89
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $114
- May 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Arkansas peaks in August 2025 and bottoms out in November 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Arkansas electricity bills in context
The average monthly electricity bill in Arkansas is $138, ranking 33rd among the 50 states and DC—closer to the middle than the extremes. This figure sits well below the national average of $155, a difference of $17 per month. Arkansas achieves this lower bill despite using more electricity than the nation as a whole: homes here average 1,045 kWh per month against the national average of 871 kWh, a gap of 174 kWh. The reason the bill stays low is price. At 13.24¢/kWh, Arkansas electricity costs 4.60¢ less per kilowatt-hour than the national rate of 17.84¢/kWh, and that advantage more than compensates for the higher consumption.
Over the past year through May 2026, the monthly bill rose 4.5%, climbing from $132 to $138. Over the longer run, the increase has been steeper. Since May 2021, bills have grown 17.8%, and since December 2008, they have risen 34.7%. Seasonality shapes the year considerably. August 2025 brought the peak bill of $191, while November 2025 hit the low of $101, a swing of $90 across the twelve-month window. Among bordering states, Arkansas bills are the second lowest. Only Oklahoma, at $141 per month, comes closer to Arkansas's figure; Missouri follows at $145, while Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas all exceed $155.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Arkansas?
›Is the electric bill in Arkansas higher than the national average?
›Why is not electricity expensive in Arkansas?
›When is the electric bill highest in Arkansas?
›How does Arkansas compare with neighboring states?
How this is calculated
EIA’s retail-sales dataset reports, for every state and month, total residential revenue and the number of residential customers served. The average monthly bill is simply the first divided by the second — total spending across all households, spread evenly over all accounts.
bill = revenue ÷ customers · averaged over 12 months (June 2025 – May 2026)
Two caveats worth knowing. It is an average, so it blends apartments with large houses — a typical household in Arkansas may pay well above or below $138. And it counts what was actually billed for electricity, including fixed service charges, so it is not the same as multiplying your own usage by the advertised rate.
Looking for the rate rather than the bill? See Arkansas electricity prices by sector.